


More Than Capable

by reeby10



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - No Powers, First Meetings, Foster Care, Gen, Melinda has good intentions, Runaway Daisy, Stalking, Teen Daisy, of a sort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-30
Updated: 2016-06-30
Packaged: 2018-07-16 21:33:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7285522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reeby10/pseuds/reeby10
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“What else are you going to call watching me in the coffee shop all day every day for almost a week?” she demanded. “Who are you with? FBI? CIA? NSA?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	More Than Capable

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sixtywattgloom](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sixtywattgloom/gifts).



> Gift for sixtywattgloom for Every Woman 2016! I hope you enjoy :)
> 
> I started writing a different fic where Daisy and Jemma were in college, sort of set after this one, but decided this one would work better. Perhaps I'll go back to that one someday...

Daisy shut her laptop, rubbing at her forehead. After a long thirty-six hours working on a probably not entirely legal coding project, she was exhausted and the dim lighting of the coffee shop, usually so soothing, was giving her a headache. She needed to go find somewhere to sleep awhile, and maybe get some food if she was lucky.

She’d spent her last five bucks on a coffee that hadn’t really done quite enough to wake her up. Hopefully she’d get paid for her last coding job soon, or at least hit someone up for a quick loan until she did. Not that she really had anyone to ask anymore. She’d kind of burned most of those bridges when she’d come to this city, and it was proving harder than she’d thought to make new friends.

Draining the last dregs of her lukewarm coffee, she stuffed her laptop in her bag and headed for the door. She was stuffing earbuds into her ears, head down and mind already on the best places to park her van for a nap in the middle of the day, when she suddenly collided with something.

“Oh shit,” she said, jerking back as warm liquid sloshed onto the hand holding the strap of her bag.

A handful of napkins immediately appeared in front of her face, held by a small hand, well manicured but with obvious callouses. Taking the napkins and dabbing at the sticky mess that had thankfully managed to not actually hit her bag, Daisy glanced up from beneath the hood of her jacket to see the woman who she’d run into. She was a lithe Chinese woman a little shorter than Daisy. She was probably in her thirties, beautiful but stern looking.

“Sorry,” the woman said simply, though Daisy couldn’t detect any sarcasm or even annoyance. She turned a little, tossing her probably mostly empty cup into a nearby trashcan.

“My fault,” Daisy mumbled in reply. She wasn’t actually sure whose fault it was, but tired as she was at the moment, it was probably her’s. “Thanks for the napkins.”

She slipped out the door as quickly as possible, ignoring the eyes she felt on her back. Whatever. It wasn’t the first collision and spill that coffee shop had seen and it wouldn’t be the last. Besides, she had more important things to think about. Like whether or not the cops were likely to try to ticket her if she she set up in the nearby park for a few hours nap.

***

Daisy didn’t notice the woman from before again for a few days, which she kicked herself for. It was obvious in retrospect that the woman had been there every day after they ran into each other, Daisy just wasn’t sure why. She was almost positive she hadn’t seen the other woman at the coffee shop before then.

Still, she wasn’t sure what to do about apparently now having a stalker. It wasn’t like the woman was doing anything, she just sat in a corner of the coffee shop that wasn’t too close to Daisy, but wasn’t really far either. She drank her coffee, a book that she obviously wasn’t reading held in front of her, and watched.

The thing that worried Daisy most was that the woman wasn’t approaching her, wasn’t demanding anything, wasn’t threatening. Those things she knew how to handle. But this… not so much.

It took almost a week of sweating it out, worried that the woman was a fed or a cop and would swoop in any moment to arrest her, before she finally did something. Honestly, it might not have been the smartest thing to do considering the possibilities, but she was fed up of being watched. She wanted answers.

She packed up her bag a little earlier than usual and headed for the door, watching out of the corner of her eye to make sure the woman followed a few seconds later. Sure that she was being followed, she ducked down the nearest alleyway to wait. It didn’t take long for the woman to pass by, a frown on her face, and Daisy reached out to grab her.

What she didn’t expect was to suddenly find herself held up against the wall of the alley, an arm at her throat. She blinked at the woman in front of her, too startled to say anything, until the woman backed up, hands raised placatingly.

“I’m sorry, that was a reflex,” the woman said. “I hope I didn’t hurt you.”

“No, uh, I’m fine,” Daisy replied after clearing her throat just to be sure it still worked. It did, though she was a little afraid she’d have a bruise later, along with a sore back from being shoved against a brick wall. “That’s quite a reflex you have. Are you like a ninja or something?”

The corner of the woman’s mouth lifted in what might have been a smile, and she dropped her hands. “Not exactly. I’ve been practicing Tai Chi since I was a child.”

“Right…” Daisy shook her head, trying to remind herself why she was in this situation in the first place. “This is not how I imagined this going at all. I wanted to know why you’ve been stalking me.”

“Stalking.”

Daisy shrugged, annoyed at the flippant response. “What else are you going to call watching me in the coffee shop all day every day for almost a week?” she demanded. “Who are you with? FBI? CIA? NSA?”

“I’m not with anyone,” the woman replied, frowning. “Why do you think I am? Are you in trouble?”

“That’s none of your business,” Daisy said, looking around uneasily. She was really starting to wish she’d just sucked it up and switched coffee shops, but she was kind of attached to the mocha latte they did at this one. “But if you really aren’t… after me, why have you been watching me? It’s _really_ creepy.”

“I was curious,” the woman said with a graceful shrug. “I caught a glance of what you were doing on your laptop that first day and saw the van you were driving, but you can’t be more than sixteen.”

“I’m seventeen,” Daisy said on reflex, then winced a little. If this woman was a truancy officer or something, she could still be in trouble, though it would be much easier to get out of. “And so what? So I’m good with computers and drive a shitty van, that’s nothing to stalk me about.”

The woman shrugged, not saying anything for a long moment. “I want to help,” she finally said, holding a hand up when Daisy opened her mouth to retort that she _didn’t need help thank you very much_. “I know we don’t know each other and I know you’re fine on your own, but the thing is, you don’t have to be.”

Daisy stared at the woman, a thread of desperate hope threatening to overtake her hard-earned suspicion and distrust. “What do you mean?” she asked slowly, wondering if this was the sign for her to run for it.

“I work for a place called Shield. It’s a halfway house for teens who... don’t quite fit in with the regular foster care system,” the woman said.

Daisy perked up a little, curious despite herself. Saying she “didn’t quite fit in with the regular foster care system” was pretty much the biggest understatement imaginable. She hadn’t known any other kids who’d gone through fourteen homes in two year, plus the three months she’d been on her own the first time she ran away. Even being lonely in a big city was better than some of the shit she’d had to put up with in the system.

“We provide rooms and food and various extracurricular activities. We try to control your life as little as possible since we know you’re more than capable already,” the woman continued with a small, wry grin. “Seeing you the other day, I just thought you might need something like that in your life.”

“That… doesn’t sound too bad,” Daisy admitted. She giving in more easily than she was really comfortable with, but the woman just had this air of confidence and reassurance about her. It made Daisy think that maybe this was legit, that maybe she’d find a place where she could fit.

“I was hoping you’d say that,” she said, a warmer, though still small, smile growing on her face. She stuck out her hand, which Daisy took with only a little hesitation. “I’m Melinda May.”

“Daisy.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Daisy. Do you want to follow me over in your van?” the woman asked, already heading out of the alleyway. “I want to introduce you to the others, especially Jemma. I think you two will really get along.”

The mention of others had Daisy’s nerves spiking, but she followed Melinda anyway, determined to at least give this a chance. If worst came to worst, she’d just leave again and try to skate under the radar until her birthday in eight months. But she had a strange, hopeful feeling that it wouldn’t come to that this time.

“So, what’s this Shield like?”

**Author's Note:**

> Concrit welcome. If you like my fic, feel free to come hit me up [on tumblr](http://voldiebuns.tumblr.com/)!


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